Ishmael, the narrator, announces his intent

to ship aboard a whaling vessel. He has

made several voyages as a sailor but none
as a whaler. He travels to New Bedford,
Massachusetts, where he stays in a whalers’
inn. Since the inn is rather full, he has to
share a bed with a harpooner from the South
Pacific named Queequeg. At first repulsed
by Queequeg’s strange habits and shocking
appearance (Queequeg is covered with
tattoos), Ishmael eventually comes to appreciate the man’s generosity and kind spirit, and the two
decide to seek work on a whaling vessel together. They take a ferry to Nantucket, the traditional capital
of the whaling industry. There they secure berths on the Pequod, a savage-looking ship adorned with
the bones and teeth of sperm whales. Peleg and Bildad, the Pequod’s Quaker owners, drive a hard
bargain in terms of salary. They also mention the ship’s mysterious captain, Ahab, who is still
recovering from losing his leg in an encounter with a sperm whale on his last voyage.

The Pequod leaves Nantucket on a cold Christmas Day

with a crew made up of men from many different
countries and races. Soon the ship is in warmer waters,
and Ahab makes his first appearance on deck,
balancing gingerly on his false leg, which is made from
a sperm whale’s jaw. He announces his desire to
pursue and kill Moby Dick, the legendary great white
whale who took his leg, because he sees this whale as
the embodiment of evil. Ahab nails a gold doubloon to
the mast and declares that it will be the prize for the
first man to sight the whale. As the Pequod sails toward the southern tip of Africa, whales are sighted
and unsuccessfully hunted. During the hunt, a group of men, none of whom anyone on the ship’s crew
has seen before on the voyage, emerges from the hold. The men’s leader is an exotic-looking man
named Fedallah. These men constitute Ahab’s private harpoon crew, smuggled aboard in defiance of
Bildad and Peleg. Ahab hopes that their skills and Fedallah’s prophetic abilities will help him in his
hunt for Moby Dick.

The Pequod rounds Africa and enters the Indian Ocean. A few whales are successfully caught and
processed for their oil. From time to time, the ship encounters other whaling vessels. Ahab always
demands information about Moby Dick from their captains. One of the ships, the Jeroboam, carries
Gabriel, a crazed prophet who predicts doom for anyone who threatens Moby Dick. His predictions
seem to carry some weight, as those aboard his ship who have hunted the whale have met disaster.
While trying to drain the oil from the head of a captured sperm whale, Tashtego, one of the Pequod’s
harpooners, falls into the whale’s voluminous head, which then rips free of the ship and begins to sink.
Queequeg saves Tashtego by diving into the ocean and cutting into the slowly sinking head.
During another whale hunt, Pip, the Pequod’s black cabin
boy, jumps from a whaleboat and is left behind in the
middle of the ocean. He goes insane as the result of the
experience and becomes a crazy but prophetic jester for
the ship. Soon after, the Pequod meets the Samuel
Enderby, a whaling ship whose skipper, Captain Boomer,
has lost an arm in an encounter with Moby Dick. The two
captains discuss the whale; Boomer, happy simply to have
survived his encounter, cannot understand Ahab’s lust for vengeance. Not long after, Queequeg falls ill
and has the ship’s carpenter make him a coffin in anticipation of his death. He recovers, however, and
the coffin eventually becomes the Pequod’s replacement life buoy.

Ahab orders a harpoon forged in the expectation that he will soon encounter Moby Dick. He baptizes
the harpoon with the blood of the Pequod’s three harpooners. The Pequod kills several more whales.
Issuing a prophecy about Ahab’s death, Fedallah declares that Ahab will first see two hearses, the
second of which will be made only from American wood, and that he will be killed by hemp rope.
Ahab interprets these words to mean that he will not die at sea, where there are no hearses and no
hangings. A typhoon hits the Pequod, illuminating it with electrical fire. Ahab takes this occurrence as
a sign of imminent confrontation and success, but Starbuck, the ship’s first mate, takes it as a bad omen
and considers killing Ahab to end the mad quest. After the storm ends, one of the sailors falls from the
ship’s masthead and drowns—a grim foreshadowing of what lies ahead.

Ahab’s fervent desire to find and destroy Moby Dick continues to

intensify, and the mad Pip is now his constant companion.
The Pequod approaches the equator, where Ahab expects to find the
great whale. The ship encounters two more whaling ships,
the Rachel and the Delight, both of which have recently had fatal
encounters with the whale. Ahab finally sights Moby Dick. The
harpoon boats are launched, and Moby Dick attacks Ahab’s harpoon
boat, destroying it. The next day, Moby Dick is sighted again, and the
boats are lowered once more. The whale is harpooned, but Moby Dick
again attacks Ahab’s boat. Fedallah, trapped in the harpoon line, is
dragged overboard to his death. Starbuck must maneuver
the Pequod between Ahab and the angry whale.

On the third day, the boats are once again sent after Moby Dick, who
once again attacks them. The men can see Fedallah’s corpse lashed to the whale by the harpoon line.
Moby Dick rams the Pequod and sinks it. Ahab is then caught in a harpoon line and hurled out of his
harpoon boat to his death. All of the remaining whaleboats and men are caught in the vortex created by
the sinking Pequod and pulled under to their deaths. Ishmael, who was thrown from a boat at the
beginning of the chase, was far enough away to escape the whirlpool, and he alone survives. He floats
atop Queequeg’s coffin, which popped back up from the wreck, until he is picked up by
the Rachel, which is still searching for the crewmen lost in her earlier encounter with Moby Dick.
Character List

Ishmael
The narrator, and a junior member of the crew of the Pequod. Ishmael doesn’t play a major role in the events of
the novel, but much of the narrative is taken up by his eloquent, verbose, and extravagant discourse on whales
and whaling.
Ahab
The egomaniacal captain of the Pequod. Ahab lost his leg to Moby Dick. He is single-minded in his pursuit of
the whale, using a mixture of charisma and terror to persuade his crew to join him. As a captain, he is dictatorial
but not unfair. At moments he shows a compassionate side, caring for the insane Pip and musing on his wife
and child back in Nantucket.
Moby Dick
The great white sperm whale. Moby Dick, also referred to as the White Whale, is an infamous and dangerous
threat to seamen, considered by Ahab the incarnation of evil and a fated nemesis.
Starbuck
The first mate of the Pequod. Starbuck questions Ahab’s judgment, first in private and later in public. He is a
Quaker who believes that Christianity offers a way to interpret the world around him, although he is not
dogmatic or pushy about his beliefs. Starbuck acts as a conservative force against Ahab’s mania.
Queequeg
Starbuck’s skilled harpooner and Ishmael’s best friend. Queequeg was once a prince from a South Sea island
who stowed away on a whaling ship in search of adventure. He is a composite of elements of African,
Polynesian, Islamic, Christian, and Native American cultures. He is brave and generous, and enables Ishmael to
see that race has no bearing on a man’s character.
Stubb
The second mate of the Pequod. Stubb, chiefly characterized by his mischievous good humor, is easygoing and
popular. He proves a bit of a nihilist, always trusting in fate and refusing to assign too much significance to
anything.
Tashtego
Stubb’s harpooner, Tashtego is a Gay Head Indian from Martha’s Vineyard, one of the last of a tribe about to
disappear. Tashtego performs many of the skilled tasks aboard the ship, such as tapping the case of spermaceti
in the whale’s head. Like Queequeg, Tashtego embodies certain characteristics of the “noble savage” and is
meant to defy racial stereotypes. He is, however, more practical and less intellectual than Queequeg: like many
a common sailor, Tashtego craves rum.
Flask
A native of Tisbury on Martha’s Vineyard and the third mate of the Pequod. Short and stocky, Flask has a
confrontational attitude and no reverence for anything. His stature has earned him the nickname “King-Post,”
because he resembles a certain type of short, square timber.
Daggoo
Flask’s harpooner. Daggoo is a physically enormous, imperious-looking African. Like Queequeg, he stowed
away on a whaling ship that stopped near his home. Daggoo is less prominent in the narrative than either
Queequeg or Tashtego.
Pip
A young black boy who fills the role of a cabin boy or jester on the Pequod. Pip has a minimal role in the
beginning of the narrative but becomes important when he goes insane after being left to drift alone in the sea
for some time. Like the fools in Shakespeare’s plays, he is half idiot and half prophet, often perceiving things
that others don’t.
Fedallah
A strange, “oriental” old Parsee (Persian fire-worshipper) whom Ahab has brought on board unbeknownst to
most of the crew. Fedallah has a very striking appearance: around his head is a turban made from his own hair,
and he wears a black Chinese jacket and pants. He is an almost supernaturally skilled hunter and also serves as a
prophet to Ahab. Fedallah keeps his distance from the rest of the crew, who for their part view him with unease.
Peleg
A well-to-do retired whaleman of Nantucket and a Quaker. As one of the principal owners of the Pequod, Peleg,
along with Captain Bildad, takes care of hiring the crew. When the two are negotiating wages for Ishmael and
Queequeg, Peleg plays the generous one, although his salary offer is not terribly impressive.
Bildad
Another well-to-do Quaker ex-whaleman from Nantucket who owns a large share of the Pequod. Bildad is (or
pretends to be) crustier than Peleg in negotiations over wages. Both men display a business sense and a
bloodthirstiness unusual for Quakers, who are normally pacifists.
Father Mapple
A former whaleman and now the preacher in the New Bedford Whaleman’s Chapel. Father Mapple delivers a
sermon on Jonah and the whale in which he uses the Bible to address the whalemen’s lives. Learned but also
experienced, he is an example of someone whose trials have led him toward God rather than bitterness or
revenge.
Captain Boomer
The jovial captain of the English whaling ship the Samuel Enderby. Boomer lost his arm in an accident
involving Moby Dick. Unlike Ahab, Boomer is glad to have escaped with his life, and he sees further pursuit of
the whale as madness. He is a foil for Ahab, as the two men react in different ways to a similar experience.
Gabriel
A sailor aboard the Jeroboam. Part of a Shaker sect, Gabriel has prophesied that Moby Dick is the incarnation
of the Shaker god and that any attempts to harm him will result in disaster. His prophecies have been borne out
by the death of the Jeroboam’s mate in a whale hunt and the plague that rages aboard the ship.

Herman Melville

Herman Melville was born on August 1, 1819. After his

father's death, Melville attempted to support his family by
working various jobs, from banking to teaching school. It
was his adventures as a seaman in 1845 that inspired
Melville to write. On one voyage, he was captured
and held for several months. When he returned, friends
encouraged Melville to write about his
experience. Typee: A Peep at Polynesian
Life (Wiley and Putnam, 1846) became his first literary
success; the continuation of his adventures appeared
in his second book, Omoo (Harper & Brothers, 1847).
After ending his seafaring career, Melville read voraciously. In 1847, he married Elizabeth
Shaw and moved first to New York and then the Berkshires. He lived near writer Nathaniel
Hawthorne, who became a close friend and confidant. Melville penned Mardi and a Voyage
Thither, a philosophical allegory, and Redburn: His First Voyage (Harper & Brothers, 1849), a
comedy. Although the latter proved a financial success, Melville immediately returned to the
symbolic in his next novel, White-Jacket; or, the World in a Man-of-War (Harper & Brothers,
1850). In 1851, he completed his masterpiece, Moby-Dick, or the Whale (Harper & Brothers).
Considered by modern scholars to be one of the great American novels, the book was dismissed
by Melville's contemporaries and he made little from the effort. The other two novels that today
form the core of the Melville canon—Pierre; or the Ambiguities (Harper & Brothers, 1852)
and The Confidence Man (Dix, Edwards & Co., 1857)—met a similar fate.

Melville died of a heart attack on September 28, 1891, at the age of 72. During the week of his
death, The New York Times wrote: "There has died and been buried in this city…a man who is
so little known, even by name, to the generation now in the vigor of life that only one
newspaper contained an obituary account of him, and this was but of three or four lines." It
wasn't until the 1920s that the literary public began to recognize Melville as one of America's
greatest writers.